[dmallan]

The Allan Family Does Disney – January 8-14

This is my first attempt at writing a trip report. What I started out doing is writing a report for ourselves, to help us remember the trip. But after reading some of the other reports, I decided to post it for others to read as well. It’s not as detailed as some I’ve read, so I hope it’s not too boring. I’ve also decided not to include the pre-trip stuff, as I really didn’t record too many pre-trip things.

Cast:
Me – Donna (49), DH – Jeff (50), DD – Liz (26), DD– Kate (23) and DS - Tom (20)
We’ve been to the World a few times…It’s been 3 years since Jeff and I went on our 25th Anniversary trip (2004) and 13 years since Liz, Kate and Tom have been to Walt Disney World. We went twice when the kids were younger (1991 and 1994).

Our Journey:
We leave on Tuesday, January 8th at 7:20am from Buffalo Airport. Grandpa picks us up at 5:15 and drops us off at the airport at 5:35. We check our bags, (with the yellow ME tags on) and go through security, which takes about 25 minutes. While we wait at our gate we chat with my Uncle Bill and Aunt Loraine who have a flight to Tampa at 7:40. Imagine that! Katie doesn’t feel too well, but we are hoping she’ll feel better once we’re on our way. We board our flight and are on our way to Orlando by 7:20.
Luggage includes 1 checked bag for each of us plus one very large suitcase which contains a 4-cup coffee maker, a soft-sided cooler, coffee bags, tea bags, creamers, sugar, cereal, plastic bowls, plastic spoons, Styrofoam cups, pop tarts, and lots of pre-packaged snacks to last us 7 days.

One thing I did before the trip that I will share is planning our dining costs. I looked at the menus extensively and figured out what we would likely spend at each TS and CS restaurant. For 7 days, I estimated the total cost of meals to be around $1200. I had $900 on my Disney rewards card and three $100 Disney gift cards that we used for our meals. In order to stay on track with the budget I came up with a plan. I figured out the maximum each person could spend for each meal and this was the “magic number.” Each person can order whatever he or she wants as long as it doesn’t exceed the magic number. It worked very well for us, and everyone really got into it! (When I told them about my magic number plan Kate said “Mom, is this a Disney thing, or did you make it up?”)

Day 1 – coming up…
(hopefully I can figure out to post pictures - i've not done that before!)